on cemeteries, maupin, and mushrooms

Every Sunday, my mom and my aunt take my grandparents out for adventures around Los Angeles.  Usually they involve visiting old haunts and interesting LA places.  I often get a phone call from them while on Sundays saying, "We're in ______ (insert any teeny tiny Los Angeles neighborhood here), where should we eat?"

Today, I received a different type of message from mom:

"Hi Jen, uh ... I was hoping you'd be available.  We seem to be locked in a cemetery and I was wondering if you could call someone to help us ..."

I think she wanted me to Google a way to get out of the cemetery.  She later said she thought I could call the non-emergency police department number for her.

Fortunately, they got out soon after when a groundskeeper found them, but that's one message from my family that I'll be happy to never receive again.

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I know that things have hit a little lull here, and you may be seeing a couple more non-food related posts.  I've been assured that this is an ok thing.  If you don't agree with it, you can blame my friend who encouraged me to write about whatever I need to.  Her blog rhymes with Schmood Fusings.

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I finished "Michael Tolliver Lives."  Truth be told, I finished it in about three days.  It was satisfying and interesting to see Maupin's view on San Francisco in the 80's through to today.  If you haven't read any Tales of the City books, definitely start with the first -- this one will only be interesting if you've read the others.

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Does anyone have an interesting mushroom salad recipe?  I was thinking of doing a salad with a variety of roasted mushrooms that can be served at room temperature.  If you have a suggestion, I'd love to see it.

Comments

[Hande]

Roasted mushroom variety sounds good, maybe on a bed of rucola? Or how about a mushroom tartare? I make one as a side to smoked trout. Would you like to have the recipe?

[plentyofmoxie]

something must be in the air (spores?) because I've been musing a mushroom salad recipe to be served at room temp. So far I've decided to grill the babies, roughly chop and throw in the usual suspects. But I came online this morning looking for better inspiration . . .

[jen maiser]

H - would love to see the recipe, thanks!

S - Very strange about our similar thinking. Let me know what you decide on and how it comes out.

[Stephanie]

I remember making a sliced mushroom salad with a creamy Dijon mustard and tarragon vinaigrette. Walnuts were added at the last minute for crunchiness.

I think the recipe was pretty basic, a mustard vinaigrette that was heavy on the oil and mustard to keep it creamy (light on the acid, lemon juice) with minced fresh tarragon. I'm not the biggest tarragon fan, so I went light on this. Mushrooms were tossed and coated and toasted/cooled walnuts were added at the end.

I think I might add minced shallots to the vinaigrette if I were to make it again for a bit of texture. Also, I had an idea of frying up, draining, and adding bacon bits to this. There's something about bacon and mushrooms...

[Tea]

Okay, Stephanie has me suddenly craving bacon.

I've done mushroom salads with raw marinated mushrooms where they almost seem cooked from the acid (I think Martha Stewart has a recipe in her first book, Entertaining).

And I'll take Stephanie's portion of tarragon, I love the stuff.

[rache]

very thinly sliced button mushrooms, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, shaved parm - maybe over arugula or watercress if you like

[Jennifer Jeffrey]

I am so curious to know how your mom got so far into a cemetery that she couldn't find her way out.

And I can't wait to read the non-food-related posts you'll be posting. Composed while you eat mushroom salad, no doubt.

[Marc]

You could toss the mushrooms with a Thai-style dressing. My Thai Vegetarian Cooking book has a dressing of vegetable stock, finely chopped lemon grass, finely chopped lime leaves, finely chopped red or green chilis, dried chili powder, lemon juice, soy sauce and sugar. First the stock is heated, then everything (incl. mushrooms) is added, stirred for one minute, and served. If the mushrooms were precooked you could probably just toss them with the dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves with mint and/or cilantro.

Did you eat any mushroom salads in Vietnam? Perhaps your trip could inspire a Vietnamese dressing for the mushrooms.

[Jen's Mom]

This explanation is for Rache...
We were out cruising L.A. on Sunday after having lunch at The Pantry.

We were kind of on a memory lane type of drive---one where the octogenarians say things like, “on the next corner there was a dance hall where we used to ---oh look, it’s still there---remember when we…”

By and by we were in East Los Angeles by one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, the cemetery where my dad’s mother was buried when he was 6 years old. He had only been there once since. A few years ago I helped him locate the burial plot which had never had a marker because they were just too poor in 1925 to buy one. He finally fulfilled his lifelong desire to buy a headstone for his mother’s grave. It had been one of those things that he just never got around to in his busy life.

So we were there and it was 5:30 and the gate was open so we just blew by the gate with the sign that says, “Closes at 4:30.”

You can guess the rest. We visited the grave, cruised the awesome Calvary Cemetery with its beautiful old monuments and then tried to leave through the gate that had been open 20 minutes earlier which now had the biggest thickest chain on it I ever saw.

So we just cruised some and admired the Japanese section with its orderly and conforming shiny black markers while two type A personalities (me and AP) raced our brains trying to think of solutions while not riling up the passengers.

Did I say that before we found the gate locked my dad had been saying things like, “wow, I bet this is a spooky place to be at night with all of these crooked and sinking markers.”

THAT’s when I called Jen hoping she was at her computer and I was in the middle of the message---I think I was at the part when I said, “we’re locked in a cemetery” ---when a knight in shining amour rode up in his pick-up truck and led us to the locked the gate and freed us! Woo Hooo Freedom!

Then we went to another old cemetery. (when you fall off a horse you have to get right back up)

When I was in college my friends and I would play hide-N-seek in a beautiful old cemetery. Of course, it was usually around 2am and we just jumped the fence.

I like the idea of roasted mushrooms on spinach and arugula with shaved Parmesan or Manchego.

[Tori]

Opps, forgot to add my name. (The Hide-N-Seek girl)

BTW: I am also cool with "non-food-related posts you'll be posting. Composed while you eat mushroom salad, no doubt.

[Jasmine]

Kalyn's Kitchen (blogspot) has a recipe for roasted mushrooms called greek style roasted mushroms with red pepper, oregano, mint and feta that I enjoyed

[Jennifer]

A couple of really amazing mushroom recipes I've had lately (okay, three)....

(1) torn butterleaf lettuce tossed with crumbled feta cheese and sauteed sliced mushrooms and sweet red peppers, caramelized shallots and toasted pine nuts. Topped with balsamic vinagrette.

(2) sauteed mushrooms and sweet red peppers (hmmm...must have a thing for this combination) with shredded asiago cheese and penne pasta. Tossed in a light dijon sauce and served cold.

(3) Not salad by any stretch, but I recently had a variety of wild mushrooms that a chef used to create a gravy. The whole thing was poured over a rustic bread that was sliced thinly and toasted with a bit of butter. I ate till I was sick--it was heavenly.

Thanks for your posts--I'm new here, but enjoying them very much!

[Nerissa]

oh my god... another Maupin?! Hurray!